We have found out that we are required to go through NARA's caterer for the event. The estimate they gave us for morning + afternoon break + lunch was ~$3,900 for 100 attendees. That far exceeds our budget and what we would like to spend ( $39 / person !).

Instead, we will have morning coffee + snacks, and the afternoon coffee through the caterer. This will cost ~$1,100 - $1,200 total. The NARA Foundation has offered to chip in $300 towards the costs, bringing our costs for this down to $800-900. For the afternoon break, we are getting cupcakes donated to us by Georgetown Cupcake as an in-kind donation!!!! :)

So, our total expenses will be $800-900. With the remaining funds, we have some options:

return the $ to WMF

since we are making people do lunch on their own but then have the happy hour, we could give out drink tickets? (one per person?)

we could re-allocate the funds for a future event (GLAM-Wiki DC)? though, it's probably better not to do this and request a new grant later for that.

These estimates are for ~120 attendees, with extra requested in case we have up to 150 attendees for unforeseen expenses, extra attendees, etc.

Update on Jan 4: From talking with NARA, there may be a cap on attendance at 50-100. :( We could adjust things to also have an after-event *party* at a local restaurant and accommodate more people. If there is a surplus, we could give out X number of drink tickets [if that's in scope of the grant] or cover up to X amount, close the tab, and people pay themselves after that. (or people pay themselves in entirety)

To accommodate more people, we might be able to move part of the event to the Library of Congress (one of our organizers works there!), Smithsonian, or some place. We are looking at all options.

Update Jan 5: NARA can (almost assuredly) accommodate 100 attendees. We can cut-off at that or maybe slightly more, with max at 120. The after-event party could accommodate additional people.

WikiXDC is the Washington DC meetup group's 10th Wikipedia birthday event, but is more than just a celebration. It is a day-long event hosted by the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA), at their historic downtown building on Pennsylvania Avenue! In the morning, there will be a behind-the-scenes tour and presentations by NARA about what they do. In the afternoon, there will be lightning talks by Wikimedians and wiki-trivia. As is tradition for our group, we will do a happy hour and dinner as a group (not sponsored, paid individually).

With the event, we launch our collaboration efforts with NARA, building upon the work done by Carl Malamud & DC area volunteers with the FedFlix project (see en:Wikipedia:WikiProject FedFlix) and inspired by Liam Wyatt's "Wikipedian in Residence" experience at the British Museum. The event is a chance for our group to learn more about NARA and vice versa, and we can discuss how the collaboration can take shape in the months going forward.

As we move forward, we may be able to leverage contacts we have with the University of Maryland (e.g. http://mith.umd.edu), bring in student volunteers, and possibly have a summer intern (hired by NARA) to work on furthering the collaboration. The possibilities are almost endless, but what were able to do depends on getting DC area Wikipedians interested in getting involved in the collaboration (and our ongoing Smithsonian collaboration efforts). WikiXDC is an important step towards making this all happen!

As well, this one-day event can be a precursor for our group organizing a GLAM-Wiki DC conference in the late spring or early summer (May or June). In being involved with such collaborations and activities, we are also moving towards forming a chapter in DC, though we also have and will continue to have strong collaboration with Wikimedia NYC in some form.

The event is not only a celebration, but an important step forward in GLAM collaborations in DC and in the US. For out GLAM collaborations, we are also discussing applying aspects of the Public Policy initiative and campus ambassadors program, to help make the "Wikipedian in Residence" idea more sustainable. We will be working with Liam Wyatt on that in the months ahead. For trying ideas like that, both NARA and the Smithsonian will be good partners.

At WikiXDC, we also expect media to be in attendance. We are inviting reporters from the Washington Post and National Public Radio (NPR). (we have contacts!) We will also send out press releases to other media outlets and do social media outreach in the next couple weeks.

If we get 100 attendees, we will be very happy! We may have to cap attendance at that point. Already we have 37 people signed and haven't done full advertising yet (waiting until after New Years, when people come back from holidays).

For indication of possible success and attendance, we look back to our January 2010 meetup at the Library of Congress. It was to be an informal tour given by a Wikipedian that works there, expecting maybe 20 or 30 attendees. Our meetups never had more than that. We had 60+ attendees, including a group of 15 students from Virginia Tech, and people came from out of town and out of the country just to attend our meetup! If something interesting like that and WikiXDC gets organized, people will come and the interest is there.

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